


mother hears

by TheEbonHawk



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Ashla, Force Healing, Force User, Force worship, Gen, Gray Jedi, Jedi Critical, Mentions of Revan and Bastila, Non-Aligned Force user, Revanites, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-21 05:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10678500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEbonHawk/pseuds/TheEbonHawk
Summary: mother heals





	mother hears

She was out in the rain again, once again with knees buried in mud, her arms wrapped around her wet rags and her shivering form as she cried to the wind. “Mother,” she sobbed, her voice raw from screaming. “Mother, give me strength to find my child, _please_!”

The wind gave no answer except to blow harder, colder, the rain coming down harder and the gray mud becoming diluted even more with water. The woman hunched over, bending toward the ground until her face was nearly in the gathering puddle she knelt in.

“Mother of the Force, hear me.” She said it quieter this time, too tired to yell now and thinking perhaps it wouldn't help anyway. She unwrapped her arms from herself and placed her hands on the ground, as flat as she could with mud squeezing between her fingers. “She needs me, my lady, as I need you,” she cried. She cried, and her tears fell into the mud too. “Please.”

-

By the time her visitor arrived, it was day. The storm had passed, leaving a sunny morning with a few drifting clouds that would occasionally obstruct the light. The ground still squelched and stuck to anything that touched it, but it was beginning to bake and crust over in the gentle heat.

Marena was inside now, in the candlelit clay hut. She had cleaned herself and removed her dark prayer clothes to soak, then put on a clean, pale cream tunic of thin cloth, wrapped in a style similar to jedi robes.

Now, she was pouring two small cups of tea on the tiny wooden table in her room. As she finished, there was a knock on the door.

The young woman opened it, quickly studying the man at the door. “Jonis?”

He nodded.

She moved out of his way and bid him in, leading him from the tiny entry way into the main and only room. She sat on the cushion on one side of the table and watched as he reluctantly took the other.

“So,” he began, but she shook her head, gesturing to the tea. He frowned in irritation and confusion, but when she lifted her own cup into her hands he reluctantly did the same. They warmed their palms with the cups and took a small sip of tea at the same time.

“Now you may speak.”

Jonis nodded. “I was told you are a witch. Is that true?”

Marena laughed. “That's what some people say of me.”

He looked concerned. “But you can use magic?”

The woman sighed, her expression bending itself into frustration. “I can use the Force; there's a difference. Some call it magic and some call it hearsay, but I cannot create what the Force does not allow.” She glanced up at the icons on her wall, silently thanking them as she always did for her power.

The man looked confused, but he hurried on, not interested in arguing on magic or philosophy. “But is it true that the Force allows you to heal?”

Marena nodded. “Sometimes. If the receiver is willing, and if the Force wills that they be healed.” The Force sometimes never granted healing, though some would ask for it. How else would a powerful creature like Revan, one of the Force’s most faithful daughters, have perished so young? Her soul was damaged by war, and Mother knew it was better to let her rest than bring her back to life again.

Maybe Sila was best not to return home. If that were so, Marena would accept it. Whatever the Mother decided for her daughter, she would trust.

Jonis frowned at her for staring at the icons. He didn't believe, that much was obvious. He was just a desperate man. “Please, will you try to heal my husband? He's been badly wounded and the doctor says he will die within a week.”

Marena studied him for a moment. He truly was desperate, just as she was. She would not deny another person fighting for their family. “I will come to him and do what I can.”

She drank the last of her tea, then stood, touching the frames of her icons on the wall. In her mind she said a prayer to the Force that she would not fail this man who hoped in her, just as she put hope in her mother.

Jonis stood too, staring at her as she stared at the icons. “What are these? Your gods?”

She turned to him and smiled. It was always so amusing, the curiosity. “You could say that. The middle is the Mother, the spirit of the Force. Ashla. She gives power to all.”

“The left is Revan, a daughter of the Force who wielded great power and did great and terrible things. Her ambition brought danger to the galaxy, but she purified herself and corrected her mistake.”

“And on the right is the Jedi Bastila. She was groomed by the Jedi Order for war, but she made herself an instrument of healing. She aided Revan in restoring peace and helped her to find peace of her own. She was a great Jedi.” Marena looked wistfully at the portrait. If only she had Bastila to look up to as a child, she would be happy now.

“You revere the Jedi?”

Marena’s expression soured. “Not the Order of the Jedi. They are thieves. They steal children and put them in cages, and they steal the force and lock it up in their high towers, declaring it is for them only.”

She brushed her hands over the icon of Revan. “It was the Jedi that destroyed her and caused her such pain. They saw a powerful, willful soul and they crushed it. They did the same to me.”

Her hand fell from the frame, the old haunted feeling overtaking her, but she felt Jonis’ growing impatience and fear. She touched his arm gently and smiled. “I will pack my things, son, and we will go.”

-

The blood had seeped through the bandages - the doctors were right. There was no hope for this one.

But Ashla was good at creating hope.

Marena knelt by the bed and brushed Elihah’s hair back from his forehead. “Shh,” she whispered soothingly. “It will all be alright.”

Elihah groaned, his torso twisting with his pain. “No, please, help me find peace instead. It's too late for anything else.”

“Shh,” Marena commanded. “It is not too late. I can heal you if you will let me.” She took his cold, sweaty hand in her broad warms ones and began singing quietly. As he relaxed, she moved one hand to his chest and closed her eyes.

_Heal him, mother,_ she prayed. _You and your children have done many miracles, saved those who could never be saved. Let Elihah be saved now._

As her singing continued, she felt Elihah change. His fear melted away, and he began drifting to sleep. His fate became unsealed.

When he was completely asleep, Marena released his hand and smiled at him gently. “Rest well, son. And enjoy your new life.”

She rose.

Jonis hovered near her anxiously. “Has he died?” He knelt to feel his husband's pulse and sighed with relief. “Will he live?”

Marena picked up her bag and removed a flask of tea, handing it to Jonis. “His wound has begun to heal, and he will not lose any more blood. It will take at least a day before he can move, and he will be weak as it heals, but he will live.”

Jonis sat the tea on the table by Elihah’s cot and threw his arms around Marena, his tears hitting her shoulder like the rain. “Thank you, Marena, thank you. You have saved me, too.”

Marena smiled as she gently returned the hug. This dear boy wasn't much older than  her, far older than her own child, but nevertheless she felt a maternal pride in providing help. “No one deserves to lose those they love.”

She withdrew and picked up her bag, about to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

“Don't go yet, mother! Let me give you a gift to thank you.”

Marena shook her head. “I need no reward.”

But the boy was running to the mantle and retrieving a heavy gold crystal. He brought it to her and pressed it into her hands. “I don't know if you have a saber, or if you can make one. But whatever you need to do, perhaps this could help you.”

Marena stared at the crystal. It would take her months to build a lightsaber - she would have to barter for parts, and do without the equipment and instruction that was only offered to a Jedi or Sith. She'd have to remember what her master had taught her before she'd run away.

But if she could fight, she could fight for her child.

“Thank you.” Her voice was heavy. She didn't know how to say how much it meant.

Jonis bowed his head, smiling. He seemed to understand that he had helped her and was glad.

When she left, she walked back by herself, but in her mind she was already with her child. She would be ready soon, and she would storm right into the Temple and rescue her little Sila. She had been given a way.

_Thank you, mother._


End file.
